The OL 8 operating system must not have accounts configured with blank or null passwords.
Severity | Group ID | Group Title | Version | Rule ID | Date | STIG Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| high | V-252650 | SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227 | OL08-00-010121 | SV-252650r991589_rule | 2026-02-13 | 2 |
Description
If an account has an empty password, anyone could log on and run commands with the privileges of that account. Accounts with empty passwords should never be used in operational environments.
ℹ️ Check
Check the "/etc/shadow" file for blank passwords with the following command:
$ sudo awk -F: '!$2 {print $1}' /etc/shadow
If the command returns any results, this is a finding.
✔️ Fix
Configure all accounts on the system to have a password or lock the account with the following commands:
Perform a password reset:
$ sudo passwd [username]
Lock an account:
$ sudo passwd -l [username]